Six Floors Up and Falling
by Nat1
Summary: Logan watches as Max and Alec fight


_Author – Nat_

_Rating – R_

_Spoilers – Everything up to Freak Nation and my made up DA world after that._

_Pairing – Max/Alec, but its from Logan's POV. _

_Summary – Logan watches and Max and Alec fight, flashing back to previous encounters. _

_Standard disclaimer applies.****_

_A/N – I started this a long time ago, so long I can't remember what the point of the fic was, other than to rub M/A in Logan's face… In any event, rather than just let it sit here on my hard drive I'm uploading it for your pleasure. Or something._

_A/N – I'm Australian. My word is set to Australian spelling… just so you know._

Six Floors Up and Falling 

**Logan was six floors up, looking down into the building next to him that had at one time lost most of its roof. The Transgenic's had been using it as a training room, a place to spar and work off excess energy. He could see Max and Alec. They had just walked in side by side as they always seemed to be these days. Max pulled off her jacket and flung it to the ground. She was gesticulating emphatically with her right hand saying something that Logan couldn't hear. Alec stopped dead still, halfway through removing his own jacket. Logan could see his jaw moving as Alec replied to whatever it was that Max had said. She turned to face him and shook her head. Alec ripped his jacket off and threw it across the room. Even from where he stood Logan could see the anger roll off Alec in waves.**

**Max and Alec faced off with about six feet of space between them. Logan could hear the indistinct sounds of their yelling through the windowpane he was standing behind. He could see both Max and Alec throw their hands about as they fell fully into the fight. **

**Max would take one step forward, Alec would take one step back. **

**Alec would take one step forward, Max would take one step back.**

**Logan continued watching, he couldn't drag himself away if his life depended on it.**

_"Alec huh?"_

_Max shrugged and refused to look Logan in the eye. "Yeah."_

_Logan nodded, staring hard at the side of Max's head as she looked out the window. "This is the guy who I defended for fucking up everything to start with. The guy who nearly got you to kill me, and was going to kill me himself."_

_Max turned and looked at him then. "He was following orders."_

_"Yeah, well you never did."_

_"You're wrong. Even I followed orders."_

_"You escaped!"_

_"I had things to escape to! He was doing what he had to."_

_"So the whole breeding partners thing comes around again."_

_"Oh, come on Logan. It was never set up that way. He was there to gain my trust."_

_"And what better way to do that than by not raping you!"_

_"You don't know Logan! You have no idea! I've always played the human for you, for everyone! People at Manticore, they're the real monsters. They sent Alec to gain my trust, and you wanna know why it was Alec? X5 494 twined to X5 493, Ben. Who better than someone who looks exactly like my big brother? My dead big brother. Throw in all the emotions involved with that and you've got-"_

_"Max." Logan spun to see Alec in the doorway. "Let's go."_

_Logan turned to see Max take a deep breath and nod. She edged around him and slipped past Alec who stood sideways to let her through the doorway. Logan didn't miss the way Alec had placed his hand on her lower back as she went past. _

_"When are you gonna learn Logan? That every time you do this, it makes it worse. Every time you send her off on this mission it drives her further away from you?"_

_"Well that should make you happy then shouldn't it? You're reaping the rewards."_

_"You're an idiot. Thinking of her like that. First and foremost I'm her friend. Maybe you should be too."_

_And with that Alec left and Logan was by himself. Again._

**Logan couldn't even remember what that particular argument had been about. There had been so many arguments since the siege had started. Something to do with Alec. It was always about Alec. Logan watched as Max and Alec both stepped back and relaxed their arms. Either the argument was over for them too, or it was the lull before the storm. You could never tell with them, they both played with their cards held close to their chests. The perfect poker players. **

**Logan knew that Max had lied about her being with Alec, and he wanted to believe it, he really, really did. But he couldn't. She used to turn to him when she was down, when nothing was going her way. Now she turned to Alec.**

_"God Alec!"_

_"Don't start Max." Logan watched as they entered his apartment in Terminal City. Side by side, always side by side._

_"Well if you hadn't-"_

_Alec spun on Max and backed her up against the wall. "I said don't start."_

_She pushed him back about a foot. About as far as Alec wanted to be moved Logan was guessing. "I didn't start this! You did!"_

_"Oh would you shut up about that already!"_

_"Guys." Logan reminded them he was in the room. Alec let Max up off the wall, moving sideways so there was room for her to stand next to him. "Max, I just got word from Matt Sung."_

_Logan turned from the two Transgenic's and pulled a few files up on his computer. "A detective in Portland called him, wanting to get more information on a man they had just pulled in for trying to jump a sector fence. Had a barcode on the back off his neck. Does this look familiar to either of you?"_

_Logan moved so that Alec and Max got a look at the monitor. _

_"216." Alec read and then looked at Max._

_"Caleb." Max's eyes went from the monitor to Alec to Logan. "What else?"_

_Logan turned and faced them. "He escaped, caught a couple of bullets but no body has been recovered. He's probably holed up somewhere."_

_"Alec." Max's sad eyes were locked on Alec as he put his arm around her._

_"We'll get him, just like we've gotten all the others Max. No worries. We'll send Blanket and a few of his unit. They stayed in Portland for a while."_

_Max nodded and they left together with Alec's arm still across her shoulders._

**From Logan's viewpoint, six floors up, he couldn't see Max's hands shake, he couldn't see all her muscles tense in preparation of her flinging herself at Alec. But he saw it when she jumped the distance between her and Alec, twisting in midair to kick him in the chest with both feet before she landed again. Alec was kicked back under what little remained of the roof out of Logan's site. But he was back within seconds and the fight was truly on. Kicks and punches flew too fast for Logan to follow, he winced when Alec landed a kick to Max's chest that flung her into the wall hard enough for more of the ceiling to fall in. But Max didn't flinch, she threw herself at Alec again. The fight went on, neither really gaining an advantage. They drew apart, standing within a foot of each other.**

**Logan watched.**

**Max said something.**

**Alec shrugged.**

**Max said something to which Alec replied.**

**Max king hit him with all her strength right under the jaw and he staggered back.**

**Alec hit her back in exactly the same way and she hit the floor. **

**Logan watched as Alec leant over her blocking his view of Max's face. She must have been alright though cause not long after Alec was standing up and offering Max a hand to help her up. She accepted it.**

_She reached for his hand and dropped her arm back to her side before she could actually touch him._

_"I can't."_

_"Max-" _

_"I'm sorry. I-"_

_"Max!" Alec's loud voice reverberated around Sandeman's derelict house._

_"Alec?" Max stepped away from Logan moving towards the sound of footsteps at the front of the house. "What's wrong?"_

_Her voice faded and Logan could only hear the murmurs of their voices. A sudden cry had him moving out into the open where he could find out what was going on._

_Max was on her knees, Alec had his hands on her shoulders. "Come on Max, we don't have time for this. Get it together soldier!"_

_"Hey!" Logan snapped at Alec, "Don't speak to her like that."_

_But to despite Logan, Alec's words had the affect he was after. Max had straightened her spine and reached up to Alec's outstretched arm to let him pull her up. Logan longed to be the one who could make that simple gesture, be the one to help her up when she was down. In more than one way. In more than one way he wasn't capable of either. _

_"We have to go buddy," Alec spoke to Logan. "Trouble at TC."_

_"Anything I can do to help?" Not wanting to be left out of Max's life entirely he reached out to her in the only way he knew she still valued, as Eyes Only._

_"Nope, we've got it covered." Alec replied as he guided the still silent Max out of the house and down the stairs to the street. "I'll fill you in later."_

_Logan tried once again to fool himself into believing that the hand Alec placed on her lower back didn't mean anything beyond friendship, but he knew she hadn't lied this time when she told him she was with Alec. _

_And then they were gone, Max and Alec together again, leaving Logan alone, again._

**Alec yanked her off balance, and Logan visibly winced as their bodies crashed together in a different fight. Or maybe not so different. He could still see the violence in their movements, still see the anger. Max ripped Alec's shirt off over his head and attacked his neck and chest with her mouth. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist and Alec grabbed her backside, lifting her, walking her out of Logan's site, under the rotted out roof of the building. **

**Logan tore himself away from the window, not wanting to see them if they happened to come out from under the unstable roof. Not wanting to see what they were doing if the roof finally fell down and cleared a path for him to look upon them. **

**Silently making his way down the stairs and out of the building, he moved in the opposite direction of Max and Alec, not wanting to see the looks of satisfaction and pleasure on their faces if he happened to run into them on his way out of Terminal City. **

**Not wanting to see the look of gratification on Alec's face as he basked in having Max's attention.**

**Not wanting to see no guilt in Max's face, not wanting to see her smile in that way at someone who wasn't him. **


End file.
